Social Media/Blogging Archives
February 6, 2007
Everybody's got one
Most people think the word "blog" is short for "web log". But as more and more industry-oriented sites are popping up, I'm starting to think it's taken on a new meaning: Business LOGistics. Because it's become a whole new way of delivering your company's message, values and brand identity to the world.
Does that not sound like the biggest load of bullshit you've ever heard?
This blog is called Saturated Market because the world of blogging IS. The unfortunately-named blogosphere is, in my opinion, the largest collection of voices screaming to be heard over eachother, and through the noise and waste. I don't have the statistics, but apparently there are a spectacular number of estimated abandoned blogs. And I'm fully willing to assert that each user has had an average of more than one in their lifetime, and quite possibly even more than one at the same time.
I'm going to take a moment to admit that I fall into both categories. I've had a couple blogs that have fallen by the wayside. Also, I have another personal blog, but I'm not going to tell you where it is. I created this one so I could talk about things I didn't feel like talking about in the other one. Partly because of audience. Over there I spend my posts (which mercifully are less frequent) talking about my day or other insignificant crap. Here I want to at least TRY to say something. And remain semi-anonymous while I do it.
Anyway, there are so many types of blogs. Oy, this is going to be painful.
* Business blogs
o Industry blogs
o Corporate blogs
* Personal blogs
o "Dear Diary"
o Interest/hobby
o Opinion
I won't get into the specifics today. I'll save that for later.
Don't worry, I'm not going to talk about blogs forever. Or exclusively. Just now...and in some subsequent posts. But I'll deal with that when I come to it. What will likely show up on here more often are my observations about stuff in the news, or issues in Marketing. Maybe a personal story or two. But none of that "ok so today i went to jamies house and we got sooooooooooooooo drunk but then her parents came home and i was all WTF bcuz her mom was being such a bitch LOL" crap.
Just for the record, I don't know anybody named Jamie. And even if I did, I'm sure her Mother is a delightful person.
Until next time,
JW
Posted by JW on February 6, 2007 3:41 PM | Permalink
Growing pains
I had a teacher tell me that if a business decides not to change anything, they've decided to fail. I admit that innovation is a crucial component of any business...but it has to be done right. While I'm still thinking about blogs, let me discuss one online community that's had to endure a lot of moans and rust in their quest to grow.
Livejournal has been around for less than a decade, but it's already undergone some massive changes. A brief history can be found by visiting this Wikipedia article, or from this little snippet I wrote a couple months ago in response to a "lj friend"'s complaints about recent changes:
"Hey, we're doing great! You have to pay to get in, or know someone who's a member. We feel like an exclusive club, and the people who get invited in for a free account will see how awesome a paid account is, and will sign up!"
Time passes...
"Oh, uh...hm. Not enough people are buying accounts. Okay, no problem. Let's open it up for EVERYONE! That will expand our user base, which will mean more people buying."
Time passes...
"Ah. Geez. Okay, um, now we have an exponentially larger userbase, but our subscription rate hasn't increased enough to cover our substantially higher server and bandwidth costs. Let's get someone to buy us!"
Six Apart writes a cheque...
"Hey, thanks guys. That solved nothing. Screw it, we're putting in ads to generate revenue. And maybe we can have people pay to not see the ads! That will drive up subscription!"
Now, I'm the first to admit this isn't entirely the true story. Hell, I was corrected by Wikipedia for Pete's sake. Anyhoo, long story short, livejournal has been hell-bent on attracting new users, which has been difficult based both on their reputation and increased competition from MySpace and Facebook.
Livejournal suffers from two major internal problems that I contend were not self-evident at the outset: creation abuse and stubborn users. The first relates to a point I made in my first post: since users can sign up for any number of accounts with a myriad of usernames, the system often becomes filled with several accounts, many of which become abandoned. This essentially suffocates the servers by filling them with dead weight. And thanks to their policy never to delete journals (this can only be done by the user who created it), it just sits there forever. I respect this policy, as it accounts for occasional users as well as preserving the entries of people who have passed on, which is a comfort for friends. But there is a lot of abuse, regardless.
The other problem is the real meat of this entry. Livejournal users (at least those who have been around for some time) are notoriously resistant to change. The interfaces and menus have been altered a couple times, I assume to provide ease of use, especially for newcomers. And each time a change is made, there is always an outcry, as users complain in their personal journals, in their friends' comment pages, and on the developer and support pages. "I hate how it looks," "they're pandering to the MySpace generation," "I miss the good old days." Back in my day, I had to walk uphill both ways to get to my blog.
So how does Livejournal cope with the fact that their attempts to woo new users is met with such harsh criticism by many of their current users? Or, rather, do they have to? To be frank (but not that Frank), I don't think it's even a real issue. For all the complaints and threats to leave as soon as their subscription runs down, I don't think there's been a substantial exodus from the site.
So why take all this time to talk about it? Well, first of all, because I CAN. Second, this demonstrates that just because your customers dislike something, doesn't mean they're ready to walk. Not to say that you should disregard your customers/clients entirely (that would be foolish). But don't scrap a new plan just because of a naysayer or two. This applies equally to personal plans, not just business.
Until next time,
JW
Posted by JW on February 6, 2007 4:09 PM | Permalink
February 15, 2007
Can't we all just get along?
Competition. It's absolutely inevitable. But it doesn't always come from where you'd expect.
I'm going to talk about blogs again. Aren't you thrilled? If you haven't hit the "next blog" button or gone down the list on your bookmarks menu yet, then I'm going to take that as a yes.
Now then, I'm going to look at the big 4: Livejournal, MySpace, Blogger and Facebook. Each of these sites is supposedly in competition for users. But I'm not entirely sure that's the case. First of all, there is absolutely nothing to stop someone from subscribing to more than one. I mean, they're all free (with the exception of livejournal's paid account level). Now, you might be inclined to say that they all serve the same purpose, so nobody would need more than one. However, that isn't necessarily the case. Each is more geared towards certain purposes. Some are more geared towards the purpose of blogging, whilst others are more for social networking. I've drawn up a graph of where each of these falls on these two continuums. B stands for Blog, SN stands for Social Network, with + or - denoting whether the site is more applicable for either of these purposes.
So you see, each of these sites serves a different purpose. I'll go through each of these one by one, in a minute. But first, I need to outline the true form of competition faced by these sites: themselves. Or more appropriately, their reputations. The primary reason not to use a specific site always seems to be that the potential user has a problem with the way they perceive it.
Blogger: Since this is where we are (note: at the time of writing this, I was still at Blogger), it's courteous to start with our current host. Blogger is, well, entirely devoted to blogs. There is no network in place to connect you with your friends, or to let you quickly check the blogs you enjoy. The best you can do is just to bookmark them or to put links on your own page. So for the user who wants to write a journal but doesn't feel the need to check up on everyone elses or collect a useless list of "friends" online, this is the way to go. They are free of some of the stigmas facing the other sites, but they are plagued by a reputation for unreliability. Most of the complaints that crop up about Blogger are that it has a tendency to go down. Whether or not this has been corrected is largely irrelevant; until that perception can be altered (which is tremendously difficult), they're going to have to live with it.
Facebook: Facebook is almost entirely social networking. All a user does on there is add friends and leave comments on their "wall". People can also join interest groups, and post pictures. It exists entirely to communicate with other people (which is particularly handy when it comes to people you haven't seen in a long time, or who are a distance away). I didn't put it at the very bottom of blogging, though, because they do have a blog-like option: notes. Here the user can write up a short blurb very much like a blog, which can be commented on (and you can even "tag" friends that it pertains to). However, it is tucked away on the side, and rarely used as somewhere to pontificate on a topic. Therefore, it is clearly not the primary use. Facebook's major stumbling block for attracting users is that many fail to see the point. Several people I have spoken to about the site have vowed never to sign up, since they have heard that it is addictive, and a waste of time. There is also a growing amount of discontent over the fact that high school and elementary school students are signing on, when it was originally designed for college and university students. What's worse is, employers are now checking Facebook to find applicants' pages...and pictures. Due to the "tagging" option on Facebook, anybody with a picture of you can tag you, and everyone can see it. There is a way to remove tags, but to search carefully for all references to you and delete them before your potential employer can find them is a process nobody wants to undertake.
MySpace: MySpace is a mix between blog and social networking. Nearly equally balanced. Though the main profile page has the list of friends, a comment wall to post on, and simply links to blogs. Also, it is not necessary to use the blogging option available on the site. Many people instead choose to use it simply to keep in touch with friends, post pictures, and check out new bands. The networking aspect of MySpace has allowed for great reach by new artists showcasing their work, and even advertisers. MySpace is not without its problems, though. First off, it is mocked as being a haven for self-important teenagers, most of whom are referred to as "emo". I'm not going to get into what "emo" is right now. But let me put it this way, for those who need a definition: Emo is like the whiny little brother of punk. This has turned off many potential users. The other major problem is that MySpace is widely considered to be, if you'll pardon the term, a playground for online predators. You need only look through the news to find background on that problem. MySpace definitely tapped into a major section of the population with great success, but it has some image problems to deal with.
Livejournal: Livejournal was one of the first. Like MySpace, it similarly balances blogging and social networking, but is more heavily involved in the blog aspect, as that is the primary form it takes. Users do network, but mostly in the form of reading and commenting on the journal entries of their "friends". However, there is no doubt that blogging is the primary aspect of livejournal. Like MySpace, it shares the perception that it is mostly for whiny teenagers. And as I mentioned in an earlier post, it is currently under fire from a portion of its own userbase.
Since each of these sites differs from each other in some drastic ways, there isn't really much direct competition between them. There is a tendency for Livejournal and MySpace users to make fun of one other, but there is a lot of go-between. So basically, it all comes down to what the user is looking for. Often they will be more loyal to one, but will join another because of friends being members. Instead, they are competing against their own image difficulties, and against the tendency for much of the general public to say that they have no use for a blog.
Until next time,
JW
Posted by JW on February 15, 2007 9:19 PM | Permalink
March 16, 2007
$1-billion of uploads
Viacom vs. YouTube. A $1B lawsuit is a tough thing to contend with. That's a staggeringly high number. You can't count to one billion. If you counted at a rate of 1 number per second, and you never slept, never ate, never stopped counting, it would take you almost 32 years. That's a lot of money to be potentially paid out because a bunch of people couldn't wait to watch that episode of the daily show when it re-ran at noon. I certainly applaud the companies who have taken a kinder approach (such as uploading their own videos, which gives them more control over how much of an episode you can see for free).
I'm amused that many people are so quick to criticize the companies for pulling clips, or suing, but then they further criticize companies for using YouTube to their own advantage. You can't have your cake and eat it too; businesses have just as much right and access to post content as anyone else. And let's face it, this really shouldn't be a surprise. It was only a matter of time before someone in some boardroom said, "hey, maybe instead of suing these people, let's sell to them!" If you introduce a new media, people are going to put ads on it.
Something crazy occurred to me, however. What do you suppose would happen if a company whose copyrighted programs were being showed on YouTube went ahead and started co-opting original content from public users? Well, besides the PR nightmare. I think this would be an interesting thought experiment for people who routinely denounce companies that insist on removing their content from the 'Tube.
Now, this isn't a political blog, and I'm not here to take sides. I do believe that instead of fighting the YouTube phenomenon, companies should learn to work with it to both create value for viewers and help themselves in the process. On the other hand, I don't entirely agree with the prevalence of downloaded material. I admit I was a downloader up until very recently, but I no longer agree with the practice.
Here's one more thing on downloading, just some food for thought. I usually hear an argument that bands don't make much money from cd sales, they make it from touring, so you're not hurting the band by downloading their album. But that's not entirely true. You see, record labels look at sales of albums to determine how they're doing. And if a band's album isn't selling, there's a good chance their contract will not be renewed, or maybe they will even be dropped from the label. It can be a blow to the band's ego, as well. If your album doesn't sell, you don't know if it's downloads or if it just sucks.
I eagerly await the day that business and public can find a mutually beneficial middle ground. If you want to know what that might look like, I strongly suggest you take a stroll over here.
Until next time,
JW
Posted by JW on March 16, 2007 9:29 PM | Permalink
May 7, 2007
Why blog?
Reading some of my favourite blogs got me thinking about my purpose here. So I figured, hey, why not share? Because eventually, somebody's going to ask the question, "why should I listen to you?"
So, months after I first started this blog by talking about blogs, I'm back on the subject.
I have one of those afflictions, where I start thinking about things, then I start forming opinions. And I often want to share those opinions. So I decided one day to start this one up (it certainly didn't hurt that I had a catchy name in mind).
But there's a problem: for people to read (and continue to read) a blog, it has to offer them something. Something interesting, something compelling, something (occasionally) original. Problem is, I chose business as a central theme; and while I'm diving head first into the arena, I have very little experience. A graduate certificate in Marketing Management, and two internships. But no agency experience, no client-side marketing. So if you're looking for a seasoned veteran's observations on the biz environment, you're fresh out of luck.
Fortunately for me, this blog is far from purposeless. For one, I'm writing for practice. I've said before that writing is one of the best and most versatile skills available, easily usable in nearly every profession. For example, my Father once told me that, as an Engineer, he expected to spend his life working with numbers. Instead, he writes reports and presents tenders; numbers are for entry-level. So I grew up with this sort of expectation. It's stayed with me all this time, so I do what I can to stay sharp. It doesn't hurt that I've developed a strange new interest in copywriting.
As I said earlier, I get ideas and opinions. So this is my outlet. I began thinking that I could take what I had learned in school, then discuss it here in order to archive my thoughts and try to learn my lessons in greater detail through discussion. And the best thing about blogs is their networking aspect, and the tendency for writers to all feed off one another. So I could simply look at something I read on another blog, and add my two cents. That's something I really ought to do more of in the future.
As an aside, since I'm focused on business, I fully intend to steer clear of political discussion or related matters. I have my own feelings on current events, but they don't belong here. One thing I've always hated was finding out that somebody whose work I admired held views to which I was diametrically opposed. And it can make enemies (including readers who like to leave harrassing comments). So I'm going to avoid that, if I can.
Now, we return to the beginning: why should anybody read a business blog by a "newbie"? Well, for one, since I'm new to the whole business world, I can write about this stuff with fresh eyes, without being totally lost in biz-land. And hey, I'm bound to make mistakes; if anyone with greater experience happens along, then perhaps it can lead to a discussion that EVERYONE (myself included) can learn from.
Until next time,
JW
Posted by JW on May 7, 2007 10:50 PM | Permalink
July 5, 2007
Attention Deficit Interactive Disorder
Within the past week, some of my friends got into a food fight, some others spent their day putting graffiti on walls, and a handful turned into Zombies. If you're in tune with social media, you'll know I'm talking about Facebook. Since the site opened their doors to outside programmers, newsfeeds have been inundated with a slew of notifications that so-and-so added one application while someone else got rid of another.
There is a lot of debate over this issue; depending on what side of the fence you're on, the applications are either the best or worst thing to happen to Facebook (just like when they brought in the newsfeed, or the site redesign). What I find interesting is the inspiration for many of these applications, and the "lifespan" for them.
Haven't I seen this before?
Just in case the "status" bar wasn't enough, you can tell everyone what your mood is. To keep track of your most visited friends' pages, you can have a box of your top friends. Kinda like livejournal's mood setting and MySpace's top friends box. And many of the other applications are derived from the old Memes and quizzes you would find on every livejournal page. This is part of the current general concern that Facebook is diluting its unique position in the social media market. You could say that it's an advantage to bring all these different components together into one place; but on the other hand, if you try to be something to everyone, you'll won't be anything to anyone.
That's SO last month
For every application added, I seem to see an application dropped from friends' pages. Often the same application; as Jim picks it up, Sally ditches it. These little icons seem to stick around only as long as they are novel; once it gets old, it's gone. Often these are even replaced by slightly tweaked versions of themselves. Ditch the "Superpoke" for the "X Me". The cyclical nature makes these seem fairly pointless, really. Why add it if you will only remove it in a week or two? This is especially a nuisance for friends because to use someone else's application, you have to add it yourself.
The slipping point
As time goes by and more applications come and go (along with new social media sites), I think we're soon going to reach the point where Facebook has to solidify its position among social media or lose its place to the newest site. All it takes is to do right what everyone else does wrong, convince a few users to try it out and invite their friends, and the cycle begins anew.
Until next time,
JW
Posted by JW on July 5, 2007 9:57 PM | Permalink
July 6, 2007
Nowhere to hide
Yesterday I wrote about Facebook and its applications, as well as several of the problems with the new system. There is one thing, however, that I did not talk about. The re-emergence of the lack of privacy on Facebook.
After all the fuss about collecting user information, Facebook gave the option to protect your account so that information could not be sent to third parties. Fair enough, problem solved. Right? Well, sorta...until you start dealing with the applications. What turned me right off of them was that in order to use them or sign up for them, you have to consent to having your information shared. So all the privacy protection has just gone out the window.
This is all well and good if you don't mind. But the illusion of privacy on Facebook has been in the news a lot lately, with employees and students getting in a lot of trouble for posting insulting or threatening information on the popular site. There is an endless line of students crying out how their free speech is being silenced. Which is, if you look at the laws (here in Canada at least), complete bullshit. Sure, everyone has the right to free speech. However, the Charter of Rights and Freedoms also states that if you use a right to oppress or suppress another person's rights, you are NOT protected. This is how the laws against hate speech work. So these students have a full right to dislike their teachers or principals, but they do NOT have the right to broadcast it to the world.
Yes, that's right, posting something on Facebook is essentially broadcasting it. This is the internet, a global community. The problem here is that people have yet to understand that with ANY website, especially social networking sites, you have no reasonable expectation of privacy (outside of transactions over secure servers, such as buying online; there you can expect information to be reasonably safe).
I'm not condemning these sites or the people who use them. I'm saying you need to understand the nature of the environment.
Until next time,
JW
Posted by JW on July 6, 2007 9:59 PM | Permalink
July 9, 2007
Opening thoughts
Well, here I am. I'm online, and my type is movable. I've been struggling to move my old entries here, however; it seems blogger has no means of exporting entries, and I'm having a heck of a time with it. So, for the meantime, they will stay where they are.
I like my new home here. Having complete control over design is refreshing. I still have to figure out how to customize the blog to at least resemble the overall site theme; but that's not a priority. Right now it's a matter of getting all pages functional.
So, if you're reading, I'm glad you made it, and I hope to see you again.
Until next time,
JW
Posted by JW on July 9, 2007 6:43 PM | Permalink
Trial and Error
It's both frustrating and familiar that I'm figuring out the workings of Movable Type the same way I figured out HTML, XHTML and CSS: by adding or removing one thing at a time and watching what happens. A slow process, but I think by the end I will have almost gotten the hang of it. In the meantime, we'll just have to watch functionality slowly begin to increase on this site. Stay tuned, folks.
Until next time,
JW
P.S. If you haven't noticed, I'm posting this entry as a test of whether I've gotten this right so far. Fingers crossed!
Posted by JW on July 9, 2007 8:49 PM | Permalink
July 10, 2007
Fingers crossed
So I'm proud to say that unless I've missed my guess, we now have full functionality to the blog portion of the site. If I've done my job correctly, then my custom layout will have been applied to all pages (with a few exceptions where it's not necessary to be perfect). Now I can move onto building the rest of the pages. I must admit, while there is a lot of work involved in learning the tags, Movable Type is a very flexible system with a lot of power and functionality behind it.
In the coming weeks, I'll be building the remainder of the pages, adding categories, and moving old entries over. I might have to do the latter manually, which isn't entirely fun, but will allow me a greater deal of control over how it is set up and runs. I hope it will be worth it in the long run. In any case, I hope to get back to blogging in the next week or so. It's been busy at work lately, but I'm confident I can crank out some content for you soon.
Until next time,
JW
Posted by JW on July 10, 2007 7:52 PM | Permalink
July 16, 2007
Whether or not you build it, they will come
Social Media is the new SEO. By which I mean everyone keeps insisting that companies and websites need to get on the bandwagon. And to an extent, I can agree with both sides of the coin: social media and blogging can be helpful to a company, but some companies don't need it or shouldn't venture in yet. However, thanks to the properties of social media, many companies are getting involved without even trying.
For example, there is a Facebook group called 50 Group - For the Great Taste of Labatt 50. This group is not "official", that is, affiliated with Labatt. And it certainly isn't large, particularly by Facebook standards. But it is there, and there is a small group of devoted Labatt 50 drinkers who are dedicated to, as the group's slogan goes, "keeping it classy". When social media takes hold, the public takes over the brand in that domain. For example, by seizing on 50's lack of reputation among young people as a high-end distinguished beer, the group has introduced the ironic tag of 50 being a "classy" beer. As well, the group champions their status as a minority by remarking often that one of the best reasons to drink 50 is because nobody at a party will take your beer.
I have no doubt that these images are nowhere close to the brand image being promoted by Labatt. But it seems to resonate with the drinkers who are part of the group, and is aligned with the tendency of young people to pick up on obscure or non-mainstream products and ideas. Nobody else drinks 50, so it's not cool to drink 50, so it's trendy to drink 50.
In the end, if you're considering a social media campaign, take a quick look; it may have already begun.
Keep it classy.
Until next time,
JW
Posted by JW on July 16, 2007 11:19 AM | Permalink
July 20, 2007
Yes, but...
Two days ago, I got an email from Copywriting.com with their latest blog entry on keeping a swipe file. And today, I got an email from Copyblogger.com with a guest post by Chris Garrett on the dangers of using a swipe file. And the post, according to my feed, was sponsored by none other than (guess who!) Copywriting.com. This is a real example of one of the greatest features of blogs: their social nature.
Bloggers all over the internet have been hailing the conversational style of blogs, how sometimes the best way to write a blog post is to look at something somebody else has just written about, and contribute to the conversation. This creates a web-wide discussion and can serve to spark real debate.
The greatest advantage, however, is that this adds value. Sure, it's one thing to read the copywriting.com article and learn about swipe files; but it's another thing entirely to read that article and then get a primer on how to use a swipe file correctly from Chris G. by way of Brian Clark. This is one way that bloggers form a meaningful relationship. By playing off one another and adding their own expertise to a topic, these bloggers can enhance their readers' experience, increase readership by sharing traffic, and retain subscribers by working together to give readers extra bang for their buck...err...rss feed.
Hardly surprising to see something like this on Brian's site and written by another expert like Chris. Bravo for practicing what they preach.
Until next time,
JW
Posted by JW on July 20, 2007 12:55 PM | Permalink
July 28, 2007
Cross-contamination
A while ago, while still on my old blog, I wrote a post about how social media sites aren't really in direct competition with each other. Well, I saw something today that has cemented in my mind the idea that many people are perfectly content to be part of several social media sites. Facebook groups devoted to having a Livejournal, and Livejournal groups devoted to having Facebook. And I'm sure the same exists for MySpace.
In normal competitive markets, you don't tend to see that. I'm yet to see a Chevy with the licence plate "LUV FORD". So competition isn't as intense between these sites. But needless to say, there is a, dare I say it, saturation point.
The internet is a big place. There are a lot of people on it, and that number is growing. And so the number of sign-ups for social media is increasing as well. But there are limits. People will only sign on to so many sites. Thanks to both their personal impressions and peer pressure, there are certain sites that a given person will log onto and certain sites they won't. It's usually a balancing act. To decide to join (and stay on) a site, the amount of friends on there and the amount of pressure they're putting on you will have to outweigh your own reservations.
So really, no site can expect to be the only game in town. But it's worth remembering that there's only so much room on the mountain top.
Until next time,
JW
Posted by JW on July 28, 2007 6:42 PM | Permalink
August 19, 2007
Spam, spam, eggs, sausage and spam
I seem to have a spam problem. Okay, don't we all? But it's starting to get out of hand. I could handle the junk folders in my hotmail and gmail filling up at a staggering rate. I could handle the occasional junkmail getting through the filters. I could even handle the comment spam I've started getting on this blog. But I've started getting a new kind of spam (related to this blog) that I'm not sure how to deal with. And it's going to drive me insane.
This isn't your regular, old fashioned comment spam. Oh no. That I don't mind. All that takes is to turn on comment moderation. I figured I'd spare you from having to see it, and not give them the satisfaction of reaching anybody. But I've got something new. I have received two emails, each from a separate "company", offering to help me promote my blog. From what I can tell, they are each offering to spam other sites for me. Each email has details contained in an HTML attachment, and hid the "unsubscribe" email address in a TXT attachment.
Because I don't believe in protecting the guilty, their names are Hit-Booster and BlogBlaster. They are sent out by Promote-Biz.net. I'm sure they bother other people as well. Basically, I'd like to ask if anyone has any advice, and to offer my own two cents on what they're doing.
First off, this is not permission-based marketing. I did not opt-in to receive anything from them, and they are cluttering my inbox with daily emails, each offering an identical but different product. This is a good way to piss people off.
Second, they are offering to spam FOR me. Why anybody would make such a ludicrous offer is beyond me.
Third, who insists on putting the email address to stop receiving messages in a separate file attachment? It looks like a virus rather than a legitimate email.
Basically, these types of guys are who ruined email marketing for everyone else (or at least gave it a bad reputation). If you're thinking of promoting something, and you're new to the game, don't do this. It's just bad practice.
Until next time,
JW
Posted by JW on August 19, 2007 7:48 PM | Permalink
November 4, 2007
LinkedUn
I was recently part of an interesting discussion on LinkedIn. Someone asked if Facebook introduced business functionality, could it kill LinkedIn?
The answer was pretty much what I'm sure you expected.
Not in a million years. First of all, I don't ever see Facebook effectively positioning itself as a business network. I can't fathom the idea of anybody wanting to mix business and pleasure like that. The information found on most Facebook profiles, the sort of interaction going on between friends on that site and the growing sea of crap on that site is sure to drive off any serious business networker. At a time when young professionals and veterans alike are doing everything in their power to PREVENT their bosses, staff and business contacts from finding their Facebook profile, including leaving the site entirely, I can't see anybody wanting to use Facebook as a business network.
But beside this fundamental issue, it's very hard for a social networking site to 'kill' another one. As I've said time and time again, social networks are able to easily coexist. If Facebook can't kill MySpace, why would it be able to do the same to LinkedIn? Particularly since many LinkedIn users wouldn't touch Facebook with a digital pole, keeping an active LinkedIn profile would be considered wise if you don't want to lose out on those contacts.
You wouldn't invite your bar buddies to the office party, so why would you want to use Facebook to replace LinkedIn?
Until next time,
JW
Posted by JW on November 4, 2007 11:44 AM | Permalink
November 20, 2007
You get what you give
Ever get mad?
Ever get so flippin' angry you want to scream?
Ever get so blinkin' gosh-durn angry you open up the email, or pick up the phone, or fire up the blogging interface to give someone a piece of your mind?
Let me join the already deafening roar of people who are frantically screaming: DON'T!!!
Okay, this is sound advice for all kinds of situations. Many people have written or spoken about the myriad dangers of letting fly with your anger-fuelled opinions. But I'm not going to talk about email or telling off your coworker. My beef today is with bloggers who just have to blow their top.
It happens. We all get angry. And for anyone with a blog, there is often a tendency to use it as an outlet. This can be dangerous. You hope that your vitriol will emerge in such a way that the masses will cheer you on, because you're right, and because rants are always amusing in a dark humour way, so bravo!
You're dead wrong.
I remember I was once well known for my rants as a teenager. Friends and coworkers would gather to watch and cheer as I railed against some common threat. I saw myself as part social commentator (is that even a word? I really must check that), and part comedian. But I'll bet my new computer that at least part of their amusement can be traced back to "Ha ha, Jason's a spaz." So while you might think your rant is the star, you may just be making an ass of yourself for everybody's amusement.
But it's dangerous on the internet. Instead of your associates who know you to be doing it for fun or just numb to the idea, you're putting it out there where you're going to find people who disagree with you. A lot of them.
I still do it now and again. I have thrown caution to the wind and blogged in anger. And it's landed me a foot in the mouth and an apology. So far I think I've only erred on personal blogs, though I came close here once. I have a post sitting in "unpublished" mode that really I ought to just delete, just in case.
The problem is, with a debate or opinion piece, you can talk it out. You can reply to any detractors logically, and they may join the conversation that way. And if they can't be civil, you look all the more balanced. But with a rant, you have lost the high ground. If you have any words in ALL CAPS and a small army of exclamation points, you may get a fight on your hands. Remember, on your blog, you have to control the conversation. You set the tone. So if you get into the public eye with an angry rant, anyone who disagrees is going to respond in kind. Because you'll get THEM angry, and so they just rant back. And it can get out of control very quickly.
I've said this before, there is always another side to the story. That's why it's good to at least fairly address objections in a civil manner in your article, rather than going for the jugular.
There are plenty of ways to avoid this. You can take a step back, and think, do I really want to post this? Maybe sleep on it. If it still looks good later, go ahead. Or get a voice of reason. I once narrowly avoided embarrassment by asking a trusted friend to look at something I wrote about, and decided against posting it based on her counsel.
Emotion drives writing, but there is a difference between passionate writing and crying all over your keyboard.
Until next time,
JW
Posted by JW on November 20, 2007 9:03 PM | Permalink
January 4, 2008
A return of sorts
I'm back, in a way. Sorry for the long absence, I've been in a state of transition. Not that anyone's reading, mind you.
Since my start at "The Corporation" (which shall remain unnamed), I've been quite pre-occupied. Also, I've found my time monopolized by holidays and a little electronic product called The Orange Box (I'll leave that up to you to find out what it is).
As far as how I've been (and how are you?), I'm well. My job satisfaction is at an all time high, the holidays were very good to me, I'm looking to relaunch my comic, and I won a contest I had no idea I had entered. Well, I did knowingly post, but I had no idea I would be entered into a contest. Glad to know my writing and ready wit are good for something.
On the rough side, I'm very disappointed in myself for not keeping this site going, completely failing in my attempts to keep a music blog, and I may need to re-evaluate what I'm doing here and why.
In any case, 2008 looks to be exciting, and hope that is the case for you and yours.
Until next time,
JW
Posted by JW on January 4, 2008 9:27 PM | Permalink
January 7, 2008
Shifting focus...again
I give up. I'm not a business expert, I'm not a music critic. I'm just some dude with a webpage. I think my reasons for wanting to do this were all wrong. So I'm going back to the basic reason: I like to write. So that's what I'm going to do. Write. Write about whatever I feel like, and that's how it's going to be. And that's how I like it.
Until next time,
JW
Posted by JW on January 7, 2008 8:34 PM | Permalink
February 27, 2008
Faceless
I'm committing what some people may call blasphemy: I'm leaving Facebook.
No, it's not a grand protest against the privacy intrusion, or being driven away by applications. It's just outlived all usefulness for me.
I know this baffles some people, and has even driven a few of my colleagues to speak out and ask me not to leave. So I figure this is as good a way as any to explain myself.
Nothing new
Facebook offers me very little in terms of services I don't already have. Rather than a more or less public messaging system that is limited by who's joined and who actually checks their site, I already have a telephone, email and an instant messenger; each of which is, in my opinion, far more convenient and robust than the wall or message inbox will allow.
Really, nothing new
Also, I have found that nothing happens on Facebook. I would sign on every day to decline invitations to events I don't care about in cities I don't live in, to read about the current status of people I haven't spoken to in years, and to delete calls to join groups I'll never check and applications I'll never add. Nothing of interest happens on Facebook, and frankly, I have no time for websites that don't enrich my life somehow.
A better photo album
If you want somewhere to put your photos, might I recommend Flickr? No limits on the size of your photo albums, the ability to avoid being tagged in embarrassing pictures, and far fewer drunk people. Also, you can store your photos at their original size, and view them at any range of standard sizes. This is a vast improvement over Facebook's "one size fits all" mantra. Yes, to get the most out of Flickr you have to subscribe, but I offer these three tips that really made it an obvious choice for me:
1) Even without paying, you still get fairly decent service for smaller scale use
2) I'm willing to pay for something if I think it's worth it, and this is
3) The community is terrific, and sometimes even give away subscriptions. My current subscription was a gift from a total stranger who helped me out on the forum when I was having trouble with my credit card.
I would like to mention this point before I move on: Flickr has been bought by Yahoo!, and so their customer service (through Yahoo!, of course) is remarkably uninspired, I was not overly impressed. But the actual site is so fantastic, I was willing to put that aside.
Not Applicable
I know, I know, I keep saying that it's not the applications. But I really hate applications, and I can't write about Facebook without giving them a shout-out. Facebook's applications are like the comment boards on most websites: they irritate me simply by their presence, and I would give anything to be able to choose not to see them. Where are the widgets and gadgets when you need them?!
Long time no see
In the end, Facebook became something I would go on out of habit to clear any debris away and see whose profile picture had changed. It gradually dropped off until I would only go when I received an email that somebody had written on my wall or sent me a message. So away I went.
Guess who's watching?
One final note: I know everyone's heard this song and dance before about Facebook and your personal info, and all the conspiracy theories that go along with it; but seriously...Microsoft paid $240MM for a 1.6% stake in the company. Microsoft isn't in the business of just giving away money. There must be something there worth paying all the cash for such a pittance...and it's called marketing databases.
Until next time,
JW
